Struggles with a struggle

Now that the festive season is over, it’s time to reignite the muse. The first piece of news is that a short story of mine has won second prize in the Writers’ Journal competition.I’m rather pleased about that. I was going to say over the moon but one does not want to enthuse vulgarly, does one? I’ll put it on the website but I thought rather let it appear in print first.

I’m struggling with my historical novel based on the 1820 uprising in Scotland but it is looking good. I’m struggling because I didn’t plot and do enough detailed planning in the first place and I’m now playing catch up. I normally have each scene laid out with what it should feel like and what emotional response I want to create but I rushed into this trying to have it done in plenty of time for the anniversary on the 1st April this year. It would have been quicker to do it by the standard method.

My aim is to get it done and off to a literary agent at end January. Maybe even print off a few copies for friends.

It’s been suggested I should do an article on the uprising as it is billed as the last armed insurrection on mainland Britain but I like to cross check sources thoroughly and the time to submit it is now, so I will have to let it go and hope someone else picks it up.

The insurrection was triggered by the refusal of the mill owners to recognise the court decision setting a minimum wage for mill workers. Scottish nationalists claim it to have been an incident in the struggle for independence but it had been brewing since the enclosures and the clearances that affected all of Britain and was the last flicker of the general unrest that caused Peterloo.

What is particularly interesting about the affair is the government involvement in agents provocateur and that has been a stumbling block making me swing back and forth between a spy story and a historical novel.

Happy New YearA Phoenician tale